Argentine court extends human right to freedom to orangutan

In an unprecedented decision, an Argentine court has ruled that the Sumatran orangutan 'Sandra', who has spent 20 years at the zoo in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, should be recognized as a person with a right to freedom.

The ruling, signed by
the judges unanimously, would see Sandra freed from captivity and
transferred to a nature sanctuary in Brazil after a court
recognized the primate as a "non-human person" which has
some basic human rights. The Buenos Aires zoo has 10 working days
to seek an appeal.

The "habeas corpus" ruling in favor of the orangutan was
requested last November by the Association of Professional
Lawyers for Animal Rights (AFADA) alleging that Sandra suffered
"unjustified confinement of an animal with proven cognitive
ability."

Lawyers argued that just as a person, the ape is capable of
maintaining emotional ties and has the ability to reason, while
feeling frustrated with her confinement. Furthermore, the legal
team claimed that the 29-year old orangutan can make decisions,
has self-awareness and perception of time. And therefore, all
things considered, Sandra's presence at the Zoo constituted
illegal deprivation of liberty.

Habeas corpus is a fundamental legal term in human rights, dating
back to the early fourteenth century during the reign of Edward I
in England. At that time courts began requiring the monarchy to
report the reasons behind restricted freedom of a subject.

"This opens the way not only for other Great Apes, but also
for other sentient beings which are unfairly and arbitrarily
deprived of their liberty in zoos, circuses, water parks and
scientific laboratories," the daily La Nacion newspaper
quoted AFADA lawyer Paul Buompadre as saying.

Sandra who was born in 1986 in the German zoo of Rostock, arrived
in Buenos Aires in September 1994, where she’s spent 20 years
behind bars. The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) claims Sumatran
orangutan to be the most endangered of the orangutan species.
Found only in the northern and western provinces of Sumatra,
Indonesia, the species is fast losing its natural habitat to
agriculture and human settlements.

Sandra's case is not the
first in which "habeas corpus" was invoked to secure the release
of wild animals in human captivity. However, in the US the two
recent cases failed. A New York court, earlier this month has
ruled that Tommy chimpanzee was not legally a person and is
therefore not entitled to human rights. And in 2011, a lawsuit
against SeaWorld to free five wild-captured orca whales was
dismissed by the San Diego court.